According to The New York Times, Mark Zuckerberg and his social network could launch a smartphone that would compete with Apple’s (AAPL: 572.34, +10.05, +1.79%) iPhone and Google (GOOG: 599.05, +7.52, +1.27%) powered Android devices by next year.

The report did little to help Facebook’s shares, which tumbled to a new intraday low of $30.80 Tuesday morning.

Facebook has tried and failed in the past at creating a smartphone, but the company has shifted its strategy this time around to solicit advice from outsiders, the Times reported.

Still, it remains to be seen whether this third attempt at building a smartphone will succeed, particularly because of the difficulty of evolving from a predominantly software company to a hardware and software one.

Other big technology companies such as Dell (DELL: 12.76, +0.30, +2.37%) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ: 22.75, +0.42, +1.88%) have been unsuccessful in this realm, but Facebook does have 800 million active users and photo-sharing app Instagram, which it recently bought for $1 billion.

Facebook, which raised a whopping $16 billion from its turbulent IPO, has already hired more than half a dozen former Apple software and hardware engineers who helped that company build its blockbuster iPhone, the paper said.

The Facebook smartphone report comes just days after Google completed its $12.5 billion acquisition of hardware maker Motorola Mobility.

Facebook declined to comment on the story. However, the company directed the Times to a prior statement provided last year that said, “We’re working across the entire mobile industry; with operators, hardware manufacturers, OS providers, and application developers

lol.... I won't be the first to buy one. This guy basically got lucky when he created Facebook. I guess now he thinks he has the Midas touch and has forgot that luck is the losers idea of success. He should just take the money and hit the beach.

.... oh wait! His IPO was just that! Him taking the money, and people are wondering why their share values dropped.